Laser prototyping of printed circuit boards

Abstract

This paper describes the application of laser micromachining to rapid prototyping of printed circuit boards (PCB) using nano-second lasers: the solid-state Nd:YAG (532/1064 nm) laser and the Yb:glass fiber laser (1060 nm). Our investigations included tests for various mask types (synthetic lacquer, light-sensitive emulsion and tin). The purpose of these tests was to determine some of the basic parameters such as the resolution of PCB prototyping, speed of processing and quality of PCB mapping with commonly available laser systems. Optimization of process parameters and the proposed conversion algorithm have allowed us to produce circuit boards with a resolution similar to that of the Laser Direct Imaging (LDI) technology. © 2013 Versita Warsaw and Springer-Verlag Wien.